Game apparatus.



H. LINDENBERG, JR.

GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED nov.2. 191s.

Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

. INVENTOR 44W 0,;

WITNESSES %7PMMW emu arra'r'os.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9, 11918.

Application filed November 2, 1916. Serial No. 129,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN Lmounnnne, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Woodclifi'e on the Hudson,

county of Hudson, State" of New Jersey, have invented certainnew anduseful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a'specification.

My invention relates to game apparatus and has for its object to providea simple and inexpensive apparatus arranged to be used by any number ofpersons for purposes of amusement and physical development. Myimprovement is designed primarily for use in playing a game similar tothe old game of cat and provides a means whereby the danger in playing agame of this kind is reduced to a minimum while at the same time theinteresting features of such games are multiplied to a maximum extent.Qther objects of my invention will appear from the descriptionhereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in theappended claims.

' Inthe accompanying drawings, which illustrate an example of myinvention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved game apparatus inits normal position of rest and with a ballin position thereon; Fig. 21s a plan view of the apparatus; F 1g. 3 is a sectional elevation on theline 33 of Fig. 2 and showing the apparatus in action and Fig. 4 is, across-section on the line 4% of Fi 2.

:is shown in the illustrated example the apparatus comprises a base 5 ofwood or other suitable material and preferably, though not necessarily,carried by supports 6. Two upright members 7. of wood or other suitablematerial extend upwardly from and perpendicularly to the base 5 inspaced and parallel relation to each other and are secured to said basein any convenient manner as by nailing, screwing, gluing or the like.The members 7 are preferably inclined downwardly as indicated at 8 andare maintained in spaced relation in any desired Way as for instance byproviding a cross-piece 9 preferably located between said members 7adjacent to the upper rear corners thereof. The apparatus furtherincludes an impact member which in the illustrated example comprises alever 10 located between said members 7 and pivotally mounted by meansmembers 7 if desired. The impact receiving 7 end of said lever 10 isbeveled or inclined as indicated at 12, the incline and the location ofsaid lever being such that the surface 12 will be substantially flushwith the upper surfaces of the members 7 when the apparatus is in theposition of rest as shown in Fig. 1, and approximately flush with oronly slightly above the inclined portions 8 of the members 7 when thelever 10 is in the position shown in Fig. 3. In the normal position ofthe apparatus the end portion of the lever 10 extends beyond the saidinclined portions 8 and thus provides a projecting end 13 adapted toreceive a blow whereby the apparatus is actuated as will be more fullydescribed hereinafter. Itwill be obvious that the surface 12 may beotherwise shaped than flat as shown and that the edges of the projectingend 12 may be beveled or otherwise constructed to at all times preventbinding of the lever 10 between the members 7 The lever 10 is so hung inthe apparatus that it will normally always occupy and automaticallyalways return to the position Lntnnnnnne, an, or wooncnrrrn on TenHUDSON, new JERSEY.

operation of the apparatus and to minimize the efiects thereof the lever10 is preferably provided with suitable buffers 14, it being understoodthat the same result may be obtained by properly locating said bufi'ersorequivalent devices upon the base'5 between the members 7.

In addition to the elements so far described the apparatus includes ameans for maintaining the missileor object, which in the illustratedexample is shown as a ball 15, in proper operative position. Asdisclosed in the drawings this means comprises curved and downwardlyconverging recesses 16 formed in said members 7 in opposed rela tion toeach other-and together forming a conical depression adapted toaccommodate balls or other objects of varying dimensions and hold themin proper operative position. in some casesthe location of thecross-piece 9 may make it advisable to also recess the a same in such amanner as to form a contin-* ever nature the same may be, is always solocated and dimensioned as to support the ball or other missile 15regardless of its size or shape in registry with the space between themembers 7 and at a distance above the rear end of the lever 10 when thelatter is in its normal position as shown in Fig. 1. In other words nopart of the lever 10 normally engages the missile or ball 15, thepurpose of which will more clearly appear'hereinafter. I

.In using my improved apparatus the ball or other object 15 is placed inthe retaining means, which in the illustrated example is the conicaldepression formed by the recesses 16 so that said ball occupies theposition shown in Fig. 1. In this condition of the parts the said ball15 is located centrally in registry with the space between the mem bcrs7 and at a distance above the rear end portion of the lever 1 and theapparatus is ready for use. If'th projecting end 13 or rather'thesurface 12 thereof is. now subjected to a blow, the force thereof willcause the lever 10 to be violently rocked on its.

pivot 11 and its opposite end to be whipped into engagement with theball 15. The said lever 10 thus delivers a sharp blow upon the ball 15from below whereby the latter is projected upwardly in a directionapproximately perpendicular to the base 5 as shown in Fig. 3. The heightto which the ball 15 israised in the air depends upon the force of theblow delivered upon the surface 12 of the projecting end 13 of the lever10 and may thus be adapted to the desires of individual players or tomeet conditions of play or the like. The lever 10 is guided in all ofits movements, and throughout the entire extent of a given movement bythe upright members 7 and is held thereby against any substantialwabbling or transverse movement and thus moves in paths which aresubstantially constant whereby proper contact with the ball or otherobject 15 is always assured. As the retaining means 16 is located withrespect to the space between said members 7 in which the lever 10 moves,the ball or other object when placed upon the apparatus, will occupy aposition which always bears the proper operative relation to said lever10 to produce the best results. With this arrangement as the lever 10 isactuated, the

blow thereof will always act upon the ball or other object with amaximum of efiect so of effort or exertion is operate the apparatus.

that only a minimum required to properly It will, of course, beunderstood that any desired amount of force may be exerted to actuatethe lever 10 this depending entirely on the will of the operator, or theheight to which it is desired to raise the ball or the particular use towhich the apparatus 'is put.

The blow upon the surface 12 of the end 13 of the lever 10 may bedelivered in any desired manner or by means of any suitab%e V moves inimplement such as -a stick, club or-bat.

the apparatus is used to play a game similar to eat theball may firstibeprojected upwardly and either in ascending or descending may be struckwith the stick,- club or bat and drivenout .and away from the apparatus.The apparatusmayreadily be used 7 to play a variety of other games orfor other purposes where it is desired to project a missile .or objectupwardly into the'air in a direction perpendicular to the base 5. Any fsuitable rules may be adapted either to meet. the conditions of theparticular game or in view of the number .of players. For instance ifthe apparatus is used as suggested above and two or more players areengaged in the game, the batter after propelling the ball upwardly anddriving it intothe field may place the stick, club or otherimplementhorizontally across the apparatus, and 'he player in the fieldsecuring the ball may attempt to dislodge the implement so placed bythrowing the'ball at it. If successful the fielding player changesplaces with the batsto play a variety of baseballin which case the rulesof base ball with regard to running man whootherwise continues to battheball ,ing the stick, club or bat. The apparatus bases, scoring, etc.,may be utilized to govern the game.

Owing to the fact that the ball or other object is positioned at adistance above the impacting means it thus receives a sharp blow frombelow which serves to raise it directly from the ball retaining means 16and lifts it straight up into the air. In

otherlwords the direction of inovement of the impacting means, that isthe lever 10, which is in the arc of a circle does notdetermine thedirection in which the ball is projected. This is in contradistinctionto existing devices in which the missile or object is directly carriedby the projecting means; in such devices the latter usually the arc of acircle and when actuated causes the ball or other object to be projectedin the arc of a circle or in other words communicates its direction ofmovement to the object being projected. In such cases the path describedby the ball or other object in ascending and descending is different andvaries with the force exerted to actuate the apparatus. This serves toproduce results which are unfavorable to the player operating theapparatus and creates conditions in the projection of the ball which areincapable of being readily met by the player and thus often results infailure to hit the ball if this is part of the game being played.

With the present apparatus on the contrary the ball or other object inascending describes a path approximately perpendicular to the base andin descending returns over substantially the same path and the directionof these movements is not made dependent upon any particular forceexerted in delivering the blow. The paths traversed by. the ball orotherobject are thus predetermined and vary only in length according tothe height to which said ball or other object is projected and as theconstruction of the apparatus and its method of operation locate thesepaths in position most favorable to the player, failures and misses inhitting the ball are reduced to a minimum whereby the interest of theplayers is always maintained at a maximum point.

The apparatus may be used by children or adults anywhere either indoorsor outdoors affording the required space with a maximum of protectionagainst personal injury and against destruction of property.

Various changes in the specific arrangement shown and described may bemade within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit ofmy invention.

I claim:

1. A game apparatus comprising a pair of upright spaced members eachprovided with a recess converging downwardly, said recesses being inopposed relation to each other and together forming a depression adaptedto accommodate and position missiles of varying dimensions, and amovable impact lever having an end in registry with the space betweensaid recesses and arranged to deliver a blow upon said missile frombelow.

2. A ame apparatus comprising a base, a pair of upright members,parallel with and spaced from each other, carried by said base, saidmembers each being recessed in registry with each other to form adepression for positioning balls of varying dimensions in registry withthe space between said members and an impact lever pivoted betweensaidmembers and substantially fitting the my hand space therebetweensaid lever extending beneath and at a distance from saidball, and having.a portion normally projecting be: yond members adapted to receive ablow whereby said lever is caused to deliver a blow upon said ball frombelow to propel the latter upwardly in a direction approximatelyperpendicular to said base.

3. A game apparatus comprising a base, guiding means extending upwardlytherefrom, means for positioning an object and an impact lever pivotallycarried by said base and having an end normally located beneath and at adistance from said object, said end being arranged to deliver a blowupon said object from below whereby the latter is propelled upwardly ina direction approximately perpendicular to the apparatus and beingpositively guided throughout substantially its entire range of movementby said guiding means.

4. A. game apparatus comprising means for positioning a missile and apivoted im-' pact lever arranged to propel said missile through the air,said impact lever itself being shaped to form an impact receiving surface lying in a substantially horizontal position prior to the deliveryof a blow and inclined downwardly under the force thereof. 5. A gameapparatus comprismg means for positioning a missile, a pair of spaced,

upright members having downwardly ina clined edge surfaces and an impactlever arranged topropel said missile through the air, said lever beingpivoted between said members and having an impact receiving surfacelying in a substantially horizontal position prior to the delivery of ablow and arranged to be brought into parallel relation to said inclinededge surfaces under the force of the blow.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set HERMAN LINDENBERG, JR.

